Pure Prayer in Christian Science

These Christian Science teachings are from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

[Scientific] prayer cannot change
the Science of Being,
but it tends to bring us
into harmony with it…¹

In order to pray aright,
we must enter into the closet
and shut the door.
We must close the lips
and silence the material senses.²

— Mary Baker Eddy

Our [Scientific] thinking
is not about Truth, [it] is Truth Itself.³

— Martha Wilcox

The Christian Science treatment
is the conscious realization and utilization
of God’s power
by the individual giving the treatment,
because Christian Science treatment
is the operation of the divine Mind…

It is absolutely necessary, therefore,
for the individual to note
what constitutes the divine…

Mind knows the perfection
of its own ideas—and to Mind
there is nothing but perfection…

[You] must understand yourself
to be the functioning of that Mind,
which was also in Christ Jesus…

Mind, conscious of its own perfect Self,
is a Christian Science treatment.⁴

— Martha Wilcox

Prayer at its highest and purest
isn't a tool of the human mind.
And it doesn't just go to the Almighty.
It starts from the Almighty.

God, the one Mind of the universe,
knows the perfection of Its own creation.
That divine knowing
is at the heart of pure prayer.
Mind knows Its offspring—you and me—
as flawless, whole, well, and free.

From God's point of view,
that's the only knowing going on.
Seen in this light,
prayer is not an iffy mental exercise
that might or might not work.⁵

– Channing Walker

[Scientific] prayer is shutting the door
on the possibility of the problem.⁶

— Clarence Steves

In pure prayer there is no element
of fear, fluctuation, or doubt.⁷

— Violet Ker Seymer

True prayer is to know, and to know is TO BE.⁸

— Kenneth B. Adams

The Science of Christian Science
is not learned by memorizing definitions,
but by achieving a radical turnabout of mental perspective,
no longer looking toward God
but out from God upon the universe
of my own reflected identity. . .
my infinite Self.⁹

— Richard Booker

The aim in treatment is to have no aim.
The highest achievement is
to cease the effort to achieve.
Heaven is a direct now-experience
and can only be found in the conscious now.

If we burned all our metaphysical books,
the whole of our science could be built again
on the simple doctrine, “Be attentive to THIS,
for this THIS-ness constitutes all I am or have.”¹⁰

— Richard Booker

When the thinker is lost
in the eminence of [divine] Mind,
the healing takes place.¹¹

— attributed to Mary Baker Eddy

‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.’
and the effects are automatic.¹²

— Dr. Edward L. Kramer

In any problem,
immediately see the impossibility of it
from the standpoint of the allness and oneness
of the divine Principle, Love.

If possible, never come into the problem,
but see the truth so vividly
that…the problem is dissolved.¹³

— Clarence Steves

Become so conscious of the oneness,
the allness of divine Love that the problem,
the patient, the practitioner, all disappear,
and leave only the Love of God
experiencing its own loveliness...
Live your prayer,
be your prayer,
be the presence of prayer,
so that your living is praying
and your prayer is living.

Pray without ceasing.
Be your prayer.
Let your very presence be prayer.
All you come in touch with
will feel that something holy
has touched them.¹⁴

— Clarence Steves

Whatever holds human thought
in line with unselfed love,
receives directly the divine power.¹⁵

— Mary Baker Eddy

See also Pure Prayer: An Overview

Waves of the Ocean

[1] Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 2

[2] Ibid., p. 15

[3] Martha Wilcox, Association Address of 1945, (The Bookmark, 1986), p. 47

[4] Martha Wilcox, Association Address of 1941, Chapter 2: Oneness, (The Bookmark, 1986), p. 21- 23

[5] Channing Walker, From A Distance, Christian Science Journal, April 2005, p. 27 • [Its] replaces “His,” [the Almighty] replaces “Him,” [Its] replaces “His”

[6] Clarence Steves, Selected Addresses of Clarence Steves CSB, (Healing Unlimited, 1999), p. 163

[7] Violet Ker Seymer, Pray without ceasing, (Christian Science Sentinel, Editorial, March 19, 1938)

[8] Kenneth B. Adams, Christian Science Association Addresses, (Premier Printing Corporation, 1949), p. 171

[9] Richard Booker, An Orientation Course in Christian Science, (not published, mid 1900’s), p 9

[10] Richard Booker, Notebook 106: Be Yourself, (The Institute of Metaphysical Science, unpublished), p. 85 AX 7884

[11] Mary Baker Eddy as found in Gilbert Carpenter, Course in Divinity and General Collectanea of Items By and About Mary Baker Eddy, (Rare Book Company), p. 237 • [thought] replaces “thinker”

[12] Edward L Kramer, How to Demonstrate Christian Science, (The Kimball Press, 1948), p. 8

[13] Clarence Steves, Selected Addresses of Clarence Steves CSB, (Healing Unlimited, 1999), p.

[14] Ibid., p. 163

[15] Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 192 AX 8189

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